Perceptions Unseen
by Alex Warlorn
Summary: G for now will go up quite a bit later A very speical friendship ball makes a selfish trainer experince things from a perception no trainer ever has. transformation story
1. Default Chapter

This can be read with 'Why can't he, what can't I?' or separately. 

I've been thinking about this story for some time. But I just didn't have the courage to write it. Anyway . . . Onto the set up chapter. 

"So this Friendship ball with make that Eevee of mine like me enough to evolve?"

"Beyond a doubt my good friend it'll aid you in achieving your goal. You and your Eevee will be very deep friends by the time it's through."

"Good! I've been dying to get my hands on an Espion and I've tried everything else. I even took it to a center to see if it had swallowed an everstone as crazy as that sounds. So I have a satisfaction guarantee this will work?"

"A one hundred percent one my young friend." 

"Good! I've been waiting time for this! See ya!" 

The trainer left. Kert smirked. He only wished he was there when the trainer used that special friendship ball he had created quite literally with the blessings of Celebi. He hoped the kid was fast at adapting, it would make things go a lot smoother. 

To be continued . . .

Sneaky question:

Should I have the trainer and pokemon be different genders? 

Don't get? You will soon enough. 

Hmm . . . I see several ways to take this story. 

(Pokemon to human, Human to pokemon, roles reversed, or should I mix in some hybrids too?) 

I'm tempted to do all of them each as a separate chapter. What do you think? 

Flames, comments, good or bad, corrections, suggestions(very welcome), rants, and ideas on what should happen next, and the occasional constructive criticism all-welcome. 

Please, don't **just** say 'MORE!' those reviews leave me kinda empty.


	2. Chapter 2

Farla, I couldn't have written this without you, thanks. Weather you like to admit it or not, you have inspired me, and have become a part of myself that I can never escape. Sorry people, I'm trying to do this in one go. Simply because I've realized I need to move on in life. I originally intended this to be a ten day epic, but realized the work load in comparison to the storyуs standing just didnуtу cut it. Sorry. So let's get this thing done. And may the story be interesting. + To be noted, contrary to popular belief, to simply walk a mile in someone's shoes, does not mean you suddenly have more respect for that person whose shoes you have walked in. If one found themselves in the body of a serial killer for a day, one would not suddenly have more respect for serial killers as people. For the reasons that a person, thinks less of another person, is rooted not just in one's perception of the person thought less of, but in the heart and mind of the person whose thinks less of them. There is an element, real or imagined, that separates the two people. For instance, the person who thinks less of the serial killer does so, because the thinking person usually has made the conscious choice not to kill a member of their species for thrill and satisfaction, while the serial killer has. Thus, such an experience of being in the other person's shoes would only make the thinker be happy that is not their life, or be angered at the usually unseen power that made the switch in the first place. Thus, just to have the point of view flipped around is not enough. Nor is it a matter of seeing it from each point of view. Some have theorized this was a secondary part of Jesus' mission on Earth, to experience through the heart of humanity, not just it's point of view. Even Kurt didn't realize the true nature of the friend ball: oh he knew what it was going to do. But he didn't know пhow- precisely it was going to do it. He just knew the boy was going to learn, assumingly the hard way. Of course there is a difference between retribution and revenge, which was lost on nearly anyone who would have seen the failings in this trainer's way of bringing out his pokemon's inner strength. Azure, (his birth name had been Billy, he changed his name when he started training because he heard all the cool trainers had names based on colors.) had high hopes this would work, it had better, he was running out of patience for the evolution pokemon to get it's act together. Maybe he could sell it off leaving out about its defect and minimize his losses. Of course he didn't really think that his Eevee had swallowed an everstone, it was just that he was that desperate! And the time and effort he had spent and it hadn't evolved yet!  
He had done everything the 'Trainer's and Pokemon's Guide to Evolution' said to do to get a Friendship evolution out of it! He even double-checked the secondary factors, loyalty and happiness. The Eevee was decided loyal to him, taking his orders without hesitation or question. As for the happiness, he had burned through more cash on it, (that could have been spent on pokeballs or potions,) than any of his other monsters! And he had gotten the least results as well! But the book implied any of those three alone should have been enough! Maybe the book had been just another waste of money. Maybe the pokemon's hormonal levels were off or something. Not that he would have a clue how to tell or how to fix it, and didn't want to burn even more cash on a vet's appointment of he could help it.  
It was only after he got his Eevee that he had heard of something called 'Friendship Balls' the custom balls having originated in Johto and Azure having been born and raised in Kanto, had been in the dark about them. Plus since it had little to do with pokemon actually becoming better fighters, if Azure had heard of it before, it had fallen on deaf ears. The special pokeball was supposed to make it easier for pokemon to become friends with their trainers. Of course Azure didn't read a word on how it was supposed to work, all that mattered is that it did work. Nor did he care about the theory on how trainer and pokmon personalities were supposed to overlap, which some said explained how some juvenile pokemon trainers matured so fast, or how often trained pokemon, many of them born in the wild, kept an pure innocent air about them, leading to the stereotype that pokemon were somehow more noble than humans. Of course, Azure knew none of this, nor did he care to know. All he knew was that he had a new stepping-stone to getting the high stat psychic pokemon he wanted so badly. Normally having a pokemon change balls was flat out impossible, their DNA was tagged with the wave pattern from that particular ball. However, after hearing of an invention made by some now defunct crime syndicate, that could change a pokemon's wave pattern to that of a new monster ball, his hope for his hair brained plan had gone up. Of course they would have given it to Kurt to look at, the inventor of the modern pokeball. Logically there was no reason he would use illegal technology to create a special pokeball for a complete stranger. But our good trainer was so full of himself (to his credit, his other pocket monsters, -the ones that evolved simply by leveling up- were apt fighters thanks to him) that he was sure that he could sweet talk the great Kurt into helping our good trainer. Kurt went along surprisingly fast, but our good trainer, over-estimating our good trainer's charisma score, didn't think twice about it. Azure didn't care. He had it. They never sold friend balls in the shops, even if he could get the special, 'snatch' feature he wanted for it. He would have gotten the friend ball other ways of course if possible, but he knew people who went looking for cheap illegal versions of the legitimate types of augments for increasing a pokemon's battle prowess ended up shot in a back alley with their pockets emptied. Then he found out Kurt had the odd habit of making the balls for random trainers for free, and Azure was sold. The waiting list was supposed to be near impossible to get on, but Azure of course figured he could sway Kurt to do this random trainer a tiny favor, but unlike every other arrogant trainer who considered himself the player character, Azure wasn't thrown out on his ear. He got his friendship ball, and truly could barely wait to use it, oh why should he wait at all? He called out his pokemon, ready to change it into its new ball the moment he set foot outside Kurt's run down shake. Eve. Yes. Not an original name, but he had heard pokemon liked having personal names, in particular ones that used sounds from their own species name while not having it be a copy of their species name. Eve too hoped this worked. She had overheard the discussion inside her pokeball. She had begun to wonder if there was something wrong with her. Her trainer had been nothing but loving and kind to her, and yet she had not evolved like he wanted her to! Like she wanted to, to please him, to return for all the kindness he had given her! She knew she was special, that she was important to him above all the others. He hadn't given the honor of a -name- to any of his other companions! She was his. Only his. She trusted him beyond doubt, and would never chose to be with any other trainer. She enjoyed the treats he always gave her, and the preening he always took her in for, and she dove into it, always thinking this would be the one, she would be happy enough that she would finally evolve like he always wanted her to. But she never did, and this always left her confused. She knew it somehow had to be her fault. Her trainer was doing everything right. She must have been doing something wrong. But this new miracle ball was going to fix everything! Everything! Everything was finally going to be all right. This time it had to. It just had to. She came out of her pokeball, the last time she would ever have to use it. She had a new one, a better one, one that would finally fix things and make them the way they were supposed to be. He put the other ball in his pocket, and shifted the new green one from his left hand to his right, looked at her intently, needing no words, and threw it at her. It made contact, rather softly actually, and she felt the familiar change to the transcendent state of existing only as energy as she was pulled inside. She also felt something new, maybe it was part of what was supposed to help her evolve, a strange, wave, that passed through her being. It was an odd sensation, but what it was she did not know, and her mind was more focused on finally evolving and making her trainer happy. And the wave she had felt proceeded to pass through everything beyond her container.  
Likewise, when Azure felt the strange wave, he too, just shrugged it off, his mind on ordering his new Espeon into battle and glory for him. He wasn't quite so empty headed that he thought that it would be an Espeon upon him letting it out of it's new ball, but he was certain that after everything else he had done for it, this would be the capper, it had better be. He had enough of waiting. He wanted what he deserved. Which thankfully for him, he wasnуt going to get.  
He just needed one good battle to have it level up, and he would finally have his new Espion. He opened up his cell phone and went to the list of trainers who were looking to lose to him again if he felt like it. No matter how better they got, he was always better, his pokemon always swept through theirs. The reason for this radical difference on pokemon fighting prowess might have had something to do with the facts that these trainers got more than five hours of sleep, had social lives, did more than level up their pokemon until their fighters fainted. Azure didn't know nor care why, they were all just free walking experience and poke dollars to him. The name of the closest free win was a trainer named Tommy-Something-Something-Nobody-Cares. Azure knew Tommy wasn't a great trainer automatically because Tommy didn't change his name to a color. The fact the Gym Leaders or Elite Four didn't have colors for names just showed Azure how they were all just straw giants waiting to get knocked down by the next Master (meaning him!). Azure was dully reminded that this trainer was a member of that stupid 'Shorts' club of trainers who loved to wear shorts. How could you have a club based on something so empty headed as that? This was why Azure wasn't a part of any club or group himself, they did nothing really and didn't help raise the level of his pocket monsters. They didn't even -talk- about shorts in the one meeting he had spied on. They just discussed their favorite movies, the latest manga, all the while comparing the virtues of Prima and Misty. Why even have a stupid club for stupid shorts if they were just going to hang out and not even stupidity talk about shorts?! Well, Azure didn't mind aiding karma in punishing idiots. After all, he won the most battles, that meant he had to be in the right. After all, that's how it worked out on TV. Not wanting some no face nobody to take his victory, Azure called in advance to tell Tommy that Tommy was soon going to lose. Tommy sounded slightly upset by Azure's choice of words but was still eager to 'wipe that self-serving smirk off his big round head.' Whatever, Tommy was just bitter and spiteful that he was nowhere near as good a trainer as Azure and never would be! Using his Charizard to fly to the public park where Tommy's Trainer's GPS said where shorts boy was. Yes a charizard. Everyone knows the coolest and greatest trainers picked a Charmander for their starter pokemon, he had even cried his eyes out when the stubborn Professor wouldn't give him one since Azure was getting his trainer license in Johto (Kanto was boring except for Indigo Plateau, everyone knew that) until Azure finally got one! When people had the audacity to point that 'azure' meant blue, which a charizard decidedly was not, Azure silently cursed he hadn't cried more when he was ten so he could get a 'shinny' charizard (so what if only five in recorded history existed? He deserved it.) and proceeded to tell them how they didn't understand contrast. Azure was -almost- glade his mother had forced him to sit through those art lessons and had learned the word 'contrast' in the first place... maybe he shouldn't have snuck out of so many or he might have learned what those fancy names for colors had actually meant before hand... oh well it all worked out for the best. Tommy had two arms, two legs, one head, and shorts, Azure didn't bother to remember any details beyond that, they didn't matter. It didn't matter what they looked like, he remembered what their name was after the battle even less. None of that mattered, all that mattered was their pokemon's number, type, level, and attack moves. Tommy knew Azure's face by now, as shorts boy should, shorts boy had lost to him enough times. "You ready"  
Azure didn't know why he bothered speaking, couldn't they just go straight to battling? "To win? Always"  
"Heh. I wear short shorts, in summer and in winter!" Tommy said his completely stupid battle cry that should have gotten him lobotomized years ago in a just world. Under League Rules, both trainers called out their Monster Ball No. 1 pokemon. Tommy's was a Primeape who materialized holding a copy of 'The Hobbit.' The monkey looked around, started, and quickly tossed the book over it's shoulder before assuming a boxing stance. As if the dumb animal could really read, Azure couldn't imagine any trainer who'd actually waste their time teaching their pokemon how to read! If shorts boy wanted his pokemon to do cute tricks rather than punch out opponents he should have been a coordinator. Azure's shock trooper of course was what it had always been since he first got it, and after this fight, he wouldn't need to waste a turn switching out to his Starter ever again. Azure took out the Friendship Ball, threw it, "Eve I choose you!" Saying his perfectly original key word. +  
"All right Azure!" Eve answered eagerly jumping in front of the other Eevee who was her Couch. Normally the fighters all stayed waiting back at their collective homestead to teleported in when needed by the Couches. However, Azure wanted the entire front line players here to witness Eve finally evolve. The friendship necklace he had gotten her earlier that day was said to enhance the emotional link between a Couch and the selected Fighter, so there no way she could fail to evolve this time. The sun was shinning bright in the sky so there was no question on what she would evolve into when it happened. All she needed now was the intensity of one good battle, and she would finally grow from a child into a woman. Tommy and Mike The Primeape regarded her as they always did, the pampered favorite of Azure's team. She never really understood Tommy, the meowth was part of some radical group that believed that people should hide their maternal parts from others except your mate. Every member of Tommy's team was a part as well, as was clear from the pieces of plastic cloth called 'boxers' around the Primeape's legs with his copy of 'The Hobbit' now in his back pocket. Eve never understood it no matter how many times she heard the message, why hide something that was beautiful? Tommy said it was something about keeping something dear for those most important to you, Eve didn't get it. Eve did get Azure's selflessness, he focused on her evolution rather than evolve himself. Her mother said she was too eager to grow up, but Azure had such great sights set for himself, and Eve wanted to be there to help him along every step of the way! "Eve! Switch out! Darius! In!" Azure ordered out of the blue. Eve looked right at Azure. She knew before that he had always kept her safe, letting her just watch from the sidelines, but this was her day, her moment. Why would he call her out right now? "Azure?" She asked unsure. She always understood before, but she wasn't understanding this now. Darius stopped almost in mid-leap, balance from his flame tail being the only thing that kept him from tittering over at the sudden disruption from events.  
Mike and Tommy didn't take advantage of the distraction like some teams would, instead allowing the opposing team to work it out. If Eve didn't switch out, and Azure didn't tell Eve to use a technique or to even fight on her own it would be a gross violation of the rules. As much as Tommy hated Azure's bloated ego, Tommy wouldn't score a victory against one of Azure's fighters by cheating. Azure himself was confused, Eve had obeyed without question for as long as she was a part of Azure's team. Why would she start being defiant now that he was so close? As if he needed more roadblocks. Azure honestly was rather taken back for a few seconds, not sure how to respond to Eve's sudden disobedience. Maybe she simply hadn't heard him right, first time for everything. He just hoped it wasn't anything long term, since he paid medical for his entire team as part of the League Charter. "Eve, switch out with Darius now." He said again in a slightly slower pace.  
"Why?" She asked in her normal submissive voice to him. Okay, now this was getting stupid! "Because I said so!" "But-" This was her day. If Azure had said that Eve's level was too low, and that going up against someone with a type-advantage over her was like throwing a piece of meat to the dogs, Eve would have listened and loyally stepped back in line allowing Darius to turn Mike into charcoal like the dragon had many times before. But Azure had never had to explain things to his fighters before, and he didn't feel like or understood why he should have to explain things to them now. He orchestrated the battle and they carried out his orders, that was the way of things. Darius knew that look on his lifetime partner's face. He had only shown it a couple of time actually, the first was when Azure first lost a gym battle, Azure had tripled their training regiments after that one. A lot of things got Azure frustrated Darius had learned and sympathized with his partner. But that look, warned that Azure was reaching a threshold, and it wasn't an evolution. Their other four teammates took a few steps back. Eve, naive thing, didn't even notice it. If Eve was wearing her teleport bracelet, she would be back at home by now, and would get a vicious ear full from Azure later. But she hadn't worn it today, figuring this day would be just for the two of them, she didn't mind the idea of a battle today, oh no, after Azure's surprise she was eager for it, but, she thought, he would trust her to win. Azure commanded, saying each word with force. "Eve, Return, Now"  
"But I don't want to." Eve said softly with softer eyes. Snap. Crackle. Pop. 'Oh no.' Thought Darius. Eve poor girl! Why couldn't Azure have shown this side of himself to her just once before? Why did he always have to leave her out of the most intense training? Of course Darius knew why, and so did most of the others, because Azure wanted Eve to evolve, and Azure wanted nothing to interfere with the desired process. Just like he had given Darius and the others as they were recruited a harsh diet of vitamins and leveling up until they themselves evolved. Darius held no grudge against Azure for that, Darius didn't mind the way Darius was now, and Azure felt genuine pride for his partner. Yes, Azure's methods could be draconic at times, but Azure never rested or goofed off until the job got done. Darius' Couch had simply never realized you couldn't apply that same system to relationships! "Darius, move her." Azure said his voice suddenly without emotion or expression. The dragon, as loyal as a samurai, picked up the stunned eevee, and placed her neatly a space away from RY-31/RY-32/RY-33. The triplet minded Magneton kept one eye on her, another on Mike, and the last on Azure. Eve, was silent, looking like she was Paralyzed, her face was blank, but a different kind from Azure's. She just stood there, staring emptily out at the arena field as Darius swept through Mike and Tommy's other teammates as always. Eve felt numb, like she had become a Ghost-Type like Morgonna, the spirit herself regarding Eve with those bicolored seeing stones and the battle equally passively as Morgonna did everything. Most ghosts were famous for their sense of humor, Morgonna however, regarded everything with the same value, after all, she knew we were all destine for the graveyard in the end.  
The battle ended, the outcome never in question, only the conditions were the true variables. The preset amount of currency transfered from Tommy's on-line account to Azure's. Darius and RY-31/RY-32/RY-33 (called out when Tommy switched to his water elemental) felt the familiar wave of a battle completed, and of experience rightfully earned, making them ever so slightly stronger. Eve too felt it, thou since she had almost never fought, the feeling was almost alien to her. She also felt the slight tingle she had felt even fewer times in her life, the sign that she had leveled up. The jingle from Azure's own fighter-dex confirmed it. Forgetting all about Tommy as Tommy's bracelet automatically teleported the meowth with the odd things call 'shorts' away to the nearest Medical Center. Azure never understood the worry of other Couches, the nurses healed fighters like lightning and always without fail save rare life or death instances, but the bracelets were fool proofed to keep that from happening. All those stories of bracelet malfunctions and of fighters dying were all tabloids. He had something real to think about. He looked eagerly, hungrily, intensely, he had seen it a dozen times before, but each time was its own event, and this in of itself was the event of events! At last! This had to be it! His Esipon! His at last! Azure stared at her for a full minute and a half before it set in. And it didn't set in for Eve for longer than that, as she came out of her funk just enough to realize that something was very wrong, something that was supposed to happen had not happened. As she blinked her eyes and came slightly back to herself she looked at her hands and didn't see the odd light she had seen from her teammates before during their event. Her eyes misted over. No... but... she did... he did... what was wrong with her?! Azure said nothing, he teleported their four others team members back to their homestead except for him and Darius, plus Eve who didn't have her bracelet. Azure didn't make any pretenses to comfort her. He just deposited Eve on Darius' back like she was cargo, and sat in behind her. Darius was used to normally caring only one person, but Eve was a petit thing, and didn't weight down Darius as much she should have. Azure only said, "Home," to his partner. Darius obeyed without a word. They flew without so much as a word the entire trip, Eve bordering on crying the entire time, she held back only because she knew how Darius was abrasive to water and far more importantly she didn't want to somehow make Azure feel worse then he must have already. They landed outside without fan fair, their place was right on the edge of the city. Azure always regretted having been born in a city without a Professor. The greatest Couches were always from a town where a Professor lived to match up a Couch with his fighting partner, it was the one tiny tarnish on his perfect self image. He glanced at Eve, his 'fellow' eevee, well, until now. 'Another entire level wasted.' He pulled her off Darius not waiting for the dragon to do it for him as normal and moved her inside with some effort, she was dragging her feet. Once inside, Azure didn't let go of Eve, he didn't let go once they were past the entry way either, he still didn't let go of her when they were in the in-doors training room. He dragged her straight across the room, the rest of their teammates making way. Her back was against the wall. Finally he let go. He let go of his cool calm mask. Genuine anger the likes of which she had never seen across her Azure's face bloomed completely inches away from her nose. Darius from behind stood back looking on what he knew had to happen, sooner, or later. "You," Azure hissed. "Do you have -any- idea how much it costs to feed you, to breed you, to train you, to heal you? Do you!" Eve stuttered, not sure if she was supposed to answer or not, her words coming out in a meaningless jumble. "I didn't think so!" Azure snapped. "You don't know anything! Yet you pretend that you do! I should have never brought you on board! You've been nothing but a waste of my time and effort from the beginning! All the time I waited patiently, when someone else would have simply traded you off. And do you even care about that"  
Confusion and dismay twisted and warped in her head, she needed to think, she begged him to stop. "Azure please." "Be quiet!" He grabbed the friendship necklace he had given her just earlier that day, she had felt on top of the world with it around her neck. "You're not worth -anything- I've done for you!" He ripped the necklace off her, not caring if he drew blood in the process. She saw the entire thing in slow motion, seeing the silver and gold leafed chain that made up the necklace around the green sphere of emerald break, flap through the air, and fly away from her in his grasp. Her black eyes became perfect circles as she saw his face. At last he thundered. "If I can't get my espion through you then there are a dozen others just like you!" And in that moment, the protective armor surrounding Eve's heart, leaving her safe and sound from the harsh light of truth of the world, shattered. Eve had never known betrayal. "But... you... us...then..." Tears came fully. And the light burned at her heart from all directions. Then everything, -everything-, meant nothing. The bridge she was on vanished into thin air, though it hadn't really existed at all, she she crashed into the ravine. This couldn't be real, but she couldn't lie to herself, not this time, not anymore. She shook, looked into his eyes, saw nothing, and screamed, "How could you?!" She jumped from the wall like a spring past Azure, backhanding him as she ran past, causing no real damage, and ran clean up the room's stairwell up to the second floor five steps at a time. Azure stood there stupefied, and looked dumpy at where Eve had gone, then back at the necklace in his fist.  
"Huh?" He said dumbly, all performances at superiority now sentenced to backstage. And for that moment, at least just that moment, the unbeatable Master waiting to be crowned wasn't there anymore. There was just a teenage boy wondering if maybe he had somehow done something wrong. He looked at his fighters seeking some kind of answer anything to end the confusion he was feeling that undermined his ego. RY-31/RY-32/RY-33 was deep in a debate with itself, having a three way discussion on the most likely outcome of these events. The highest candidates were: - Fighter Eve convincing the other fighters to abandon Couch Azure - Fighter Eve engaging in self termination - Couch Azure seeking to terminate Fighter Eve's relations with their Team - Complete emotional collapse of Fighter Eve and/or Couch Azure. Morgonna just floated a few feet off the ground, looking impassively at Azure, then at the way Eve had gone, the slightly hint of pity passing her purple face, the gems that made up her features conveying more emotion than they should have been able to. Arthur kept his eyes closed, folding his orange and white fins close to himself, not wanting to see anything of what just happened, honestly wanting to stick his horn through his Couches' tail, but the seaking instead just crossed his own arms, waiting for Azure to have the guts to actually say something first. His couch may have been a master battle planner, but Azure truly didn't know the first thing about females. Dennis wanted to go through the walls of the training room, then the walls behind those, then the walls beyond THAT! Followed by trees, rocks, hills, anything, as long as he could punish himself enough for never saying anything to Eve before, when he could have prevented this disaster. He resisted the urge to blow his trumpet in misery. Azure looked at Darius, who had known him longer than any of the others. Darius remembered how Billy had been, how Azure was, yet could only wonder what Azure was going to be, only knowing Darius wanted to be at Azure's side -still- no matter where the road lead. He recognized the look in Azure's pure black eyes. The look of not knowing the answer, knowing you didn't know the answer, not caring how stupid it made you sound... you just wanted to know the answer to the question. Darius, throwing all things to the wind, answered his Coach question as honestly as he was able, it would be disloyal to do so otherwise. "You seriously screwed up there Azure." The words, said so plainly, without malice or intensity, struck Azure to his core. "What?" The eevee croaked out at the charizard he had helped become a charizard. Darius' tone remained so calm, not even patronizing. "You messed up, I mean, seriously, you did, and I don't mean in a small way." Azure didn't understand why he was defending himself, he was Azure, his fighters listened to what he had to say. He was the one who spoke to them. "But... all I've wanted... all I tried to get, was the best fighter for my team." Darius' voice finally held some sharpness, but only for that first sentence. "And that's the problem. All this time, I was hoping that Eve would be the one to finally change you, maybe bring back some of the things you misplaced along the way. I'm just sorry that I had to be wrong. And I'm even more sorry that she had to wake up this way." Azure cocked his head. "Wake...up"  
"She loves you, you idiot!" Darius finally roared. "You mean the world to her! And you just rubbed her nose in it! Do you have any idea at all what you've done to her? This might have been just another business venture for you, but for her . . . you were her Prince Charming." Never had Darius spoken to Azure like this, none of Azure's fighters had spoken to the eevee like this before. The other four kept away, letting the two partners have their say, as only Darius had any right perhaps to say. "She was caught up in a fairy tale, one you spun for her, and just when she thought she was at her happy ending, you brought it all down around her ears. Do you have any idea what that's like Billy"  
"Don't call me by that name!" Azure managed to gather enough of himself to reply. "It's more you than that alias you use. Or used to be. I'm just sorry that so much of you had to go out the door when Azure came in"  
Azure's head was spinning at everything Darius was saying.  
Azure hadn't changed since he had left home, except for the better, he was the one who was going to become the next Master, he was the one whose team would be entered into the Hall of Fame, and people all around would say how great he was for generations to come. Right? Azure looked at the emerald sphere in his paw. 'Coveted by everyone like a trophy to be won. Alone. Don't want to be alone. Want to be free. But don't want to be alone. Met Him. Father taught by His father. Not alone. Learn how to fight. Never get hurt, He doesn't want me to get hurt. He's always kind to me. Not alone. Always there for me. Never alone. Have friends now, and have Him. Just one tiny thing in return. Can't give tiny thing in return. Why? Just one thing for Him, all he wants, why can't I give it to him? I believe in Him, He believes in me, why can't I? But He is still there for me. Will never be alone. Together we try, together we fail, but He is still there for me. Always together. Finally found it, what will let me do the tiny thing for Him. My day. His day. Our day. But then why isn't it my day? Why can't I still do the one tiny thing for Him? Isn't he my Him? Never cared. Never together. Was always alone. Will always be alone.' Azure gasped, his fur matted with sweat. What was that? He looked again at the flight of stairs where Eve had retreated from his, from his . . . .  
It didn't matter what it was, it mattered who it was. The stairs where Eve had retreated, from his, b-be-betrayal. What had he done? Without so much as a word to his teammates, Azure ran across the room and up the stairs not stopping for breath. Azure rented the place because it was in relatively good condition, was in a crime free area, and in his budget. It had been an art studio or something before the art was all bought in one big swoop and the artist landed some comfy job living off someone's commissions. The ultimate tribute to the place's bizarre design was the open ceiling on the second floor. It was literally just crack white wash walls (like everything else) and wood floors topped with a skylight they cleaned once a year. The walls were so high that you couldn't even get a good view of the landscape over the edge, on top of that there weren't any windows, just the skyline above. Darius had insisted the view was wonderful from up there on the edge of the walls, Azure had never once gone up there himself though. Azure had never been one to care. Those art classes hadn't been the best part of his life. If he could squeeze out more cash out of his wins, he'd rent something else. For once though, he cared there were no windows, there was nowhere for Eve to jump out, and since he used this floor only for training air born fighters, there wasn't anything dangerous on ground level. Eve lay with her back on the floor in a sunshine spot, her arms and legs flat against the boards, trying to pretend the rest of the world didn't exist just for a moment. Her eyes closed in a fake death, her breathing low. Azure took a step off the stairwell into the room . . . and realized for the first time in his life how inept at people he really was. As a kit it had always been TV and video games, he hadn't needed friends. He had no idea how to go about this, or even how to proceed. He'd shattered a stain glass window and wasen't sure he had the means to glue it back together.  
Azure felt a totally alien emotion, it took him a few seconds to for the eevee to even realize what it was. For the first time in a long time, the blindly confident Azure, knew what 'doubt' was. 'Leave her here. Go find another one, just let her be, there's no longer a point to all this. Get what you want another way like always.' He heard a voice at the back his head say. And he had to admit, it made a lot of sense. After all, he had worked so hard to get what he wanted so far, why stop now? Why should he stop? He should just leave her. What was he to her? She had never been anything but another fighter for him to evolve into a shape suited to round out his team. 'She's not anything to you. She's nothing. She doesn't matter. It not like you could make things right if you tried anything.' That clinched it. For all his personality flaws, Azure had never backed down from a challenge in his life. Gathering up his atrophied courage, he put one foot in front of the other and walked to Eve's sunshine spot.  
He somehow managed to say steadily. "Eve"  
She didn't respond to his words at first. But for once he didn't press, he was actually, -scared-, him, Azure, AZURE, scared of something. He was scared of her withdrawing even further if he tried to force her. But uncharacteristic patience reveled it's worth when Eve reluctantly opened her eyes and looked at him. Not moving any muscles more than needed, she moaned, "I'm not doing what you say anymore, throw me out if that's what you want so bad." Her eyes were blood shot, it was clear she had been crying just a minute ego. "Please don't go"  
She sat up and spat. "I said I'm not doing what you say anymore!" 'I deserve that.' Azure thought first matter of fact, then with a slight hint of surprise at the realization. 'I deserved that...' He tripped over his own words as he took a couple paces back from her. "I-I'm not saying . . . I'm asking." Eve looked a little uncertain of how to respond to that. But only a little. "I'm not dancing to your string pulls anymore!" Azure's injury was already numb there. 'I completely deserved that.' Not wanting to be looking at her, an odd feeling in of itself, Azure sat down cross-legged across from her. All his life, Azure had considered results something malleable, if he didn't like the score on a game he'd simply try again, if on the rare occasion he lost a battle, he'd simply come up with a more intense training method, to insure his fighters couldn't lose next time. But rock hard reality hit him here, that whatever the outcome here, he would never be able to change. Why couldn't there be a clock in here? At least then he could keep himself steady with the clicks of the second hand. But here he was alone, unsteady, unsure, walking a fine line with nothing below. He wanted a reset button.  
"Hit me." Azure said.  
This Eve hadn't expected. "Huh"  
"Hit me. Give a fist through my teeth, claw across my face, if I really deserve it, please do it"  
Eve didn't know how to react to that, Azure, wanting someone to damage his precious face? The one he wanted to be remembered along with his name? That was impossible. Had seeing the real side of Azure driven Eve insane? If Azure was his normal calculating self, he would have patted himself on the back for trapping Eve in a paradox. If she hurt him, she'd be doing what he asked her to, if she didn't, then he'd still be playing her since she wouldn't have hurt him. But Azure at this time saw his maiming as only a simple request. When Azure saw Eve hesitant he said, "If you won't do anything, then please, just listen, listen or don't listen, it's your choice." Of everything those last words Eve hadn't expected! She wondered if she could know his real side anymore than she could know his fake side. "I'm sorry," he said. Eve gave no reaction to that. His voice was so low with what he said next but it thundered across the heavens. "I was wrong." Eve started, she couldn't believe her ears. In all the time she had known Azure, he had never once used that combination of words. Almighty curiosity enticing her to see where this road was leading, she let the ball stay in Azure's court. "I never meant to hurt you." He said unsure. She looked him in the eyes. "You never meant anything!" She punched her fist through his teeth. "I honestly did care about you." He said unsure.  
She looked him in the eyes. "Liar!" She clawed him deeply across the face cutting skin and muscle. "You're my friend." He said unsure.  
She looked him in the eyes. "No I'm not!" She closed her paws around his throat. "I'm Azure, want to be friends?" He said unsure, reaching out a hand. She looked him in the eyes. And slapped the hand away. "I don't -want- to know you!" "I'm sorry I never appreciated how you felt about me." He said unsure. She looked in him the eyes. "Well appreciate this! I HATE YOU!" The silence was honestly painful! What was wrong with him? Why could he only picture horrible outcomes for what he said next? He had always been able to picture his victories with crystal clarity before. What was so different about this time? The clear advantages of being dynamic asides, it was common sense to think out the most likely outcomes of something in your head before you did it. Except all Azure could see now was failure. That voice at the back of his head hadn't been telling him to abandon her, it had been giving him an excuse to retreat, to avoid facing a situation he couldn't win. Maybe he should have listened to it. Azure had not known fear in so long, and had never known doubt, and thus had no real defenses against them. So what point was there in trying?  
Eve herself wondered at Azure's behavior, such an odd look on his face, unsure, second guessing himself? She never knew Azure to do anything like that. Could this be yet another side of him? Or a performance to bring her back over to his side? Azure had proven to be a skilled actor, or, had she been so eager to accept his kindness, that she had looked over the methodology of it? Azure -had- been kinder than anyone else she had known, had she wanted it to be a fairy tale relationship so badly that she had pretended not to notice the calculating expression he always had while she was enjoying herself at his treats? But all the same, she had opened her heart to him, and he had cut it out. But why couldn't she enjoy seeing him like this? Why couldn't she enjoy seeing the one who had played her along looking at odds with himself? Why didn't she feel pleasure at seeing him like a man trapped in a paradox? Maybe her mother had been right all along, maybe she was too soft hearted to be a fighter. Azure meanwhile felt in this moment, no matter what he did or said, no matter what he tried, no matter how much he could mean it, it would only backfire, and that his only honorable course of action left to him was to pretend she had never existed, and to simply be a ghost himself to her. That path was strangely comforting, to simply walk away, for it to be just over with, let it all end and move on. But something about it was so, so, wrong. If Azure could have traveled back in time at that moment and take back every cruel word he had said to her, he would have given up his right thumb to do it. But he couldn't, no matter how much he wanted to start things over, to keep the damage from ever happening, even he knew life didn't work like that. What could he do? What could he try? When everything turned to something awful in his mind's eye the moment he let it loose? Azure wished, so badly, so very badly, that he just knew how to pray. But he had never found the idea of there being something greater than himself as, convenient. He dared take an inch foreword, and in spite of a thousand black outcomes in his mind, nothing terrible happened. And for the slightest bit, the scenario of perfect letdowns cracked just one iota. And through that crack, something struggled, pushed, and refused to be kept in, too determined beyond reason to be stopped. 'THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS TOO LATE!!' A new voice boomed with such force from Azure's inner mind that the eevee nearly looked around to hear who had said it. The courage to face failure, Azure had never needed it before, he didn't believe he could fail, but he called for it, and, it, -came-!! Azure knew better than to huge, but he knew where he could start, the green necklace still in his paws, he dropped it into hers palms. She blinked, totally confused, he, gave it back to her, why?  
"I had no right to take that from you Eve." He said at least daring to take a step on the road in front of him. "A fighter is only as good as those who help them become that way. I failed you, because I couldn't help you become the woman you wanted to be, rather than the woman I wanted you to be. I'm so used, to treating everything like a math equation, I thought, you being happy enough, was just another one. I was wrong. I did it all by the book, because I never had any girl, friends. And not many other friends. I always told myself, they weren't good enough for me. It was better than believing there was something horribly wrong with me. So, when the manual said we had to be friends, I had no idea what that really meant, or how much it meant. So I went through it all like it was just another training job. Heh. Eheheh." He actually laughed. "When we first met. I thought you were boy." "What?!" Eve said more out of indignation more than anything else. "Keeping from jumping through the roof when we first talked was the hardest thing I had ever done from that point." He laughed again, not psychotic or sadistic, but the most precious laugh in all the world, the laugh at one's self. Before she could stop herself, Eve said, "When I told mom I wanted to be a fighter like dad instead of a performer like her, she said I should have been born a boy"  
"I'm glad you weren't." Azure replied. "You would never have been able to live with yourself if you had to wear some of the jewelry I've gotten you over the years." "Ha! I was never much into wearing a zillion nicknacks anyway, I never understood why it was important for girls to wear jewelry and boys not to anyway." "Neither did I, I was just following the manual. It said girls liked it when guys got them little things that looked nice." "You never read the last chapter of that book did you?" "No. How'd you know"  
"Then you'd know what all those thingies were meant to BE for"  
Azure remembered what Darius had said. Could it really be true? But if the vision he had seen, of things through her eyes was even a fraction real, then he knew, there really no doubt at all. "I'm sorry that I was trying so hard to -get you-, rather than -help you- evolve, that I never thought of how those feelings you had, would evolve themselves"  
"And"  
"I'm sorry for those things I said, I won't lie to you anymore, I meant every word I said downstairs, because, I didn't think, not for a second, that you really cared for me, I thought it was the things that would make you happy"  
"I've fought in your name, I've trusted your choice, I've stuck with you between the good and the bad, I've helped you when you've tripped and fallen on this road. How could you think I anything -but- cared for you?" Azure did the most mature and intelligent thing in his life: he said, "Because I'm a complete and total idiot who doesn't know half as much as he thought he did." "Do you really mean that"  
"...I do." Eve looked in his eyes, not even in a performance, not even in an act, not in the grandest of tricks, would Azure's ego let him say that. But she foolishly thought eyes couldn't lie, and this was no ditto, and Azure's mind at this moment was his own. In all those times before, Eve hadn't looked, she just assumed. But not here, not anymore. She looked, and saw truth. "Azure." She whispered. Thou she had been betrayed, thou she had been used, she dared to hope, she dared to believe, against all odd, in spite of it all. She placed her paws on his shoulders. She dared, to trust. "Thank you." "For what"  
"For finally being, who I thought you were." She leaned closer. Azure's brain went into overdrive but failed to come up with a solution, what was she doing? He didn't understand. Her muzzle touched his and his brain shut down, but, it didn't really feel all that bad honestly. It felt, nice, friendly, and focused, and everything else that Eve was. Like in a dream, a good one, he managed to hug her as she held his shoulders. Eve felt something inside her, Azure felt something inside him, and it expanded and spread through out their entire beings, emotions true in form and nature, opening the gateway to what lay hidden. At last understanding the power that was inside. Eve. He thought to her, not caring yet understanding how he could. I love you too. And all the world turned to white light. Where was he? Where was Eve? He looked around and just saw a bunch of warm green light like the sun's rays through spring leaves. He looked himself over, his fur was missing, he had an extra finger like a Primeape. He was also covered from the wrists and ankles up in cloth like Jynx wore. His hind paws were covered by some rubbery things like he had seen on Mr. Mime. Yet he was none of those things.  
"I'm... " The word slowly came back to his brain. "Human?" "Of -course- you are silly! You didn't think we were going to rewrite all of time and space just to teach one child whose parents never taught him humility a draconian lesson of respect for others did you? That would be as meaningless as turning you into a pokemon with no way to redeem yourself or having your pokemon murder you for actions you didn't even realize the true nature of. Anyone can punish, it's teaching that's a hard." The voice was calm, child like, and astoundingly friendly. He saw who it was, and recognized her at once thou he had never seen her in person. "Celebi." "Voice of the Forest, goddess of time, and the first rays of light at dawn on the first day of spring. I've been at your service!" It was indeed her, in all of her green on green glory: as innocent as a fae, yet as wise as the ages. "I'm glade to see you made it Billy. You can never be sure when free will is involved, but if it wasn't, what would be the point"  
"Point of what?" Azure asked simply. "To help you of course! What so many of you mortal never realize is that the only person who can help someone like you is yourself. The best I can do is help you help yourself. If I -made- you be good, there would be no point to it." Azure thought over the memories of the past day, yet another set of memories standing side by side with the first set, if not for his human form, he would have doubted them. "So . . . that was the point of what happened? For me to love Eve?" "You needed to be able to speak to her first, you needed to realize she was a person second, and you needed to see things through her eyes third, the rest I hoped would follow on it's own... it's nice to have one's hopes fulfilled more than it is to have one's doubts, don't you agree"  
Azure realized that he couldn't disagree with her, not in the slightest. "Does this happen with every Friend Ball"  
"Naw. Just the ones given to jackasses who don't realize what they're doing." "I really have been that bad haven't I"  
"Yep! And the fact that you can even say that honestly shows that my little meddling in your life can come to it's close"  
"Wait! What -was- that? A pocket reality inside the ball? A sphere of altered reality projected by the ball? Or just one big group dream"  
"Now come on, where's the fun in life if you just -give- someone the answers?" "I need to know!" "Why"  
"Because-because-..." He stumbled over his own sentence. "Say it Billy." She said sternly. "Because I need to know . . . was, that kiss . . . was that kiss real?" "I'd say it was as real as you want it to be, but that would be lying. The truth is, both you, and Eve, made your own choices, those were not experiences that were tailor made then played back by your minds. You chose how things would turn out by your own conscious decisions. No one could -create- the feelings in that moment. It happened because you chose for it to happen. She taught you and you taught her"  
She floated closer, becoming brighter as she did so. "Go back to your life Billy, go back just a little bit wiser, go back with a wider perception of things. And remember these events in heart and mind, always." Back where he started. No. Not his house or home town. The park. It had been hours since he had fought Tommy according to his pokedex's clock. His five other pokemon were all inside their pokeballs on his belt. Everyone walked about and did their business in the later afternoon heat. Billy just stood there, stunned. But in spite of everything, he knew what he had felt, what he had experienced, had been no guilt driven delusion, no dream, no vision, it was real. And even if it had been, he couldn't deny how he had felt in that one moment. Azure. He knew that voice. "Eve?" He turned around, but he didn't see the eevee anthro from his other life, or the Eevee he had used. Standing calmly feeling even the slightest motion of air against her violet fur, a red gemstone in her forehead, was an espion. He didn't jump for joy, or think of all the battles he would win, like he was sure he would, he felt instead a pang of disappointment, yet at the same time . . . "We can still talk to each other." We can. A look of happiness broke her features. We still can! She broke into a short run, made even shorter by her teleporting half way right into his arms. She looked at him and nuzzled his face the best she could. Billy didn't resist in the slightest feeling comfortable as she did so. "Don't." He said. She looked up at him, confused, and a look of doubt in her eyes. "Don't call me Azure, the name my mom gave me was Billy." She rubbed one of her giant ears against his chest. I met you as Azure, I was hurt by Azure, and I kissed Azure, you'll always be Azure to me. Billy blushed. "Well, okay, if you want to, but just between us okay"  
She nodded. Okay dear. Billy calmly set her down, it was going to take a couple hours to walk back to a center. He could have called Dari-, er, Charizard, but he wanted to walk it, it was about time he started giving his legs a workout again anyway. That was something else, once at the center, the first thing he was going to do as his pokemon healed was register names for all of them, and he knew just what names too, what names they were supposed to have maybe. Billy said kindly looking at her in those majestic eyes of hers. "Come on Eve... let's go on." She smiled and nodded back. All right. She said to him from the heart, and at last, Billy understood. Fin This story has gone through so many evolutions. I let it rot for so long because I honestly had no idea where I was going to go when I wrote that first chapter. If it wasn't for Farla's tale of a pokemon tricked into evolving by a selfish trainer, I would never have written this. It took me five months once I got started to actually write this, and all the writing happening in reality in the span of a week. And it wasn't until the end I realized I was trying to write beauty and the beast without even realizing it, how wacked is that? Heh. Well, here's hoping I've evolved in the last three years since I originally wrote that chapter, and thank you to you all who have read this. You make my existence complete. Thank you. Read you later. 


End file.
